𝓤𝓷𝓲𝓽𝓮𝓭 𝓝𝓮𝔀𝓼

Reform UK leader Nigel Farage is being investigated for supposedly breaking Parliament’s rules by failing to declare an interest. The Parliamentary Commissioner for Standards launched the inquiry on Monday.

A spokesman for Nigel Farage said: “Following a complaint from a member of the House of Lords, the Commissioner for Standards is doing his job.” No details of the complaint against Mr Farage have been published except that he is accused of breaking rules relating to “registration of an interest”. This could potentially mean failing to declare an outside earning,

The fact that an investigation has been launched simply means a complaint has been received and does not mean Mr Farage has done anything wrong.

Commons rules state: “Members must fulfil conscientiously the requirements of the House in respect of the registration of interests in the Register of Members’ Financial Interests.

“New Members must register all their current financial interests, and any registrable benefits (other than earnings) received in the 12 months before their election within one month of their election, and Members must register any change in those registrable interests within 28 days.”

Other MPs currently under investigation include Labour MP Diane Abbott, for “late registration of interest”.

In another recent ruling, the Commissioner said former MP Andrew Bridgen should have apologised to MPs over a late declaration relating to a loan totalling more than £4 million, Parliament’s standards watchdog has said.

The former MP said he had not registered the funds from businessman and Reclaim Party donor Jeremy Hosking because they were to pay for a “strictly private” matter rather than political purposes.

Payments totalling £4,470,576.42 were received between October 12 2020 and December 18 2023, and were declared on December 19 2023.

Parliament’s standards commissioner found that failing to register all of them within the 28-day timeframe set by the House amounted to an “inadvertent” breach of the MPs’ code of conduct.

The watchdog said the “donations were a registrable interest” because the two men were associated through political connections and because the interest and repayment-free terms made it a financial benefit.

The first payment was registered “1,135 days late”, the commissioner said.

Parliament’s Standards Committee said it hoped Mr Bridgen would “behave honourably and acknowledge that he was wrong, even if honestly wrong, to believe that the £4.47 million … was not a registrable interest”.

“We agree with the Parliamentary Commissioner for Standards that he should have apologised to the House.

“The purpose for which the money was provided was private and personal; Mr Bridgen’s relationship with a political donor nonetheless raised sufficient reason to make such donations a matter for registration.”

Responding to the report’s conclusions, Mr Bridgen said: “The committee concluded that I should apologise to the House. I believe that the House of Commons should apologise to the people for promoting the experimental vaccines as being ‘safe and effective’.”